1. Technical Field of the Invention Amendments
This invention pertains to a patterning system and the creation of a standard sizing system for the human body of the Black race. This invention envisages body measurements, size designation, and a patterning system for the Black human body, and specifically, a patterning system incorporating different Black body types in the design of ready-to-wear apparel, apparel fitting forms and other articles of clothing, as well as other items worn on the human body for protection or ornamentation. This invention also envisages a method of measuring in order to form a more accurate patterning system for the Black human body type.
2. Background Amendments
Reviewing Western culture, once it was customary for each household to produce most of the things it needed. In the American colonies nearly every home possessed a spinning wheel and a handloom. The mother frequently spun cotton or wool yarn on her spinning wheel. Then she wove it into cloth on a handloom, and made the cloth into clothes for family members. Because the clothes were made for specific family members, they were fitted as desired. The invention of the spinning jenny and the power loom in the late 1700s revolutionized textile-making methods. These machines made it possible to turn out cloth in greater quantities than ever before. Gradually, textiles were no longer woven in the home, and practically all cloth became a factory product. The first American textile mills and various other factories were built in the early 1800s, and so began the mass production of non-tailored garments and other items suited to protect, support or accommodate the human body.
Virtually all clothing manufactured today results from the Voluntary Product Standard PS 42–70 sizing system also known as the industry-standard. Additionally, all commercial pattern companies in the United States use the same industry-standard body measurements, adopted by the National Bureau of Standards. The industry standard is based on a 1941 study, consisting of only young, White volunteers.
After years of curiosity, speculation, and inquiry regarding the needs of non-industry-standard human bodies, I have invented a patterning system to solve many problems for groups of individuals of the Black race who are not adequately fitted by the current single industry-standard. Generally, industries that design or manufacture items fitted for accommodating the human body are producing items that fail to fit a very substantial percentage of the human population., namely the Black race. Some think that the reason the industry-standard sizing system fails to fit many Black human bodies is because of the different “body types” that exist among the human population. It is thought that age may be the primary contributor to differences in body measurements and physique. However, “body types” and the “body” are two very different classifications. Typically, “body types” are sub-categories of the “body”. Body types usually refer to body shapes, i.e. pear-shaped, hour-glass, boxy-shaped. These references to outer shape do not always represent the proper anthropometric measurements (body measurements) of the human physique or body structure. I have invented a system for measuring the Black body which includes, but not limited to, the unique bone proportion that remains consistent in this particular race of people and is not identical to any other race of people.
Contrary to the statement by Bruno Ferri in “One Size Fits All the Way to Middle Age” (New York Times, February, 1993), the source of differences in human bodies is not so much a function of aging as ethnicity which transcends age differentials. While age may have some influence on body measurements, what may appear to be a function of aging is more a function of health. A change in health is often manifested by a change in body mass. When the mass associated with an individual of a particular human body physique is changed, the mass change does not affect the human body physique; rather, the change has an affect on the appearance of the body surface. Therefore, a change in health that results in a body mass decrease may accentuate bone structure distinctions or camouflage flesh accumulation distinctions in a body. Also, where the body mass decrease involves a decrease in body muscle, the body becomes camouflaged. Where the body mass decrease involves decrease in body fat, the body becomes accentuated. As well, a change in health that result in a body mass increase may accentuate or camouflage, not alter, the human body structure. Where the body mass decrease involves an excessive increase in body fat, the body becomes camouflaged. Where the body mass increase involves an increase in body muscle, the body type becomes accentuated. Health rather than age is the greater impact on the appearance of the body. Notwithstanding, regardless of health or age, a body structure remains constant throughout the life of a human.
Development of an effective patterning system for a Black body requires a number of ethnicity solutions. A Black ethnicity solution appreciates differences in bone structure based on body physique. A Black ethnicity solution recognizes that a body part positioning can distinguish a Black body from an individual of a different race. A Black ethnicity solution takes into consideration that different human body physiques have respective propensities and distributions for muscle mass and fat mass. In addition, beyond the distinctions in bone structure, body part positioning, muscle and fat mass accumulation and the location of muscle and fat mass accumulation, which are all to some degree involved in body landmark it is critical to recognize how body type specific contours correlatively connect one body landmark to another landmark on the skeletal frame in order to adequately represent the three-dimensional shape of a Black body type. Therefore, a more precise Black body shape description depends on contour information. The distinctions noted herein above are some of the primary distinctions in Black human body physiques.
The demand for products made for the Black body including, but not limited to, ready-to-wear, apparel dress forms, other items of clothing as well as other items worn on the body for protection or ornamentation has heightened over the years, and until this invention the market remained void of an effective method and product to comprehensively solve the problem of the single industry-standard patterning system, which produces ill-fitting apparel for a significant percentage of Black consumers.) Heretofore, there has been considerable discussion on the subject of patterning, for apparel and other consumer items, by Black consumers. There is a growing desire of people with non-industry-standard bodies and certain members of the design industry, to have available mass-produced items fitted for the Black human body. Supporting articles and research state:                “It is recommended that the sizing system be up dated with new measurement data that includes African American females and also that more research involving measurement standards and sizing systems be expanded to include females of other ethnic groups.” (Wadeeah Beyah and Shu Hwa 2001, African American Female Measurements and the Standard Sizing System, International Textile And Apparel Association.)        “In contrast, Black youth have absolutely and relatively longer lower extremities than Mexican Americans and White Americans.” (American Journal of Physical Anthropology 72: 89–94, 1987)        
It is a commonly known fact that a particular apparel garment designed to fit a White human body of a particular industry-standard size range tends not to as adequately fit a Black human body who appears to be in the same industry-standard size range as the White human body. The problem is that even though the White human body and the Black human body are of the same sex, height, weight, and age, the two human bodies represent different human body physiques. Mass-produced apparel tailored to perfectly fit a human body having an industry-standard body fails to fit masses of humans with bodies that must be classified within that particular industry-standard body size. Such fit failures indicate that what is perceived to be the standard pattern design for tailoring to the human body, is merely an industry-standard for one or very few selected human body physiques.
The conventional apparel form is a classic example of how the industry-standard does not accommodate a non-industry-standard body. With an apparel form, typically, increasing or decreasing certain flexible components of the apparel form achieves different sizes. However, by way of example, an industry-standard apparel form cannot result in a quality tailored garment for an individual with the Black body type because the industry-standard fails to capture the accurate contours and the proportions, which are essential components of the Black body type. In more specific example, increasing the hip measurement on an industry-standard apparel form may yield the desired objective measurement yet does not result in the proper contours at the hip area of an individual with the Black body type. Further, a relatively small industry-standard waistline is provided on an apparel form with limited hip expansion at the hip area, based on the small waistline. On the Black body type, a small waistline does not necessarily indicate a relatively small hip, as required by the industry-standard. Moreover, the hip of a Black body type is not positioned according to an industry-standard apparel form.
Every woman wants her clothes to look as though they were made especially for her. Women who easily fit industry-standard sizing have beautifully fitted ready-to-wear clothes available. Many Black women who find it difficult to obtain a comfortable, attractive fit in ready-to-wear clothes, are referred to as having “figure problems”, “figure defects”, “figure faults” or “figure flaws”. Industry-standard garments are designed for White women with, among other criteria, hip measurements generally no more than two inches greater than their respective bust. According to the industry-standard, a woman who is not proportioned as such represents a “figure problem”. Overwhelmingly, there is no positive acknowledgement by the apparel industry of the genetic fact that large groups of women have bone structure, body frames, muscle propensity distribution and fat propensity distribution that does not conform to industry-standard patterning. In a time when issues of diversity are at the forefront, it is insensible to ignore the fact that a single industry-standard does not fit all human body structures.
When an individual with the Black body, purchase articles of clothing having industry-standard sizing, the clothing is not being purchased according to its size because size is a relative assignment. Rather, the article is being purchased because of its width and/or its depth at particular body landmarks. Therefore, an individual with a Black body may purchase different article of clothing, i.e., shirts, pants, underclothes, hat and gloves, in different and inconsistent industry-standard sizes because traditional thought regarding industry-standard sizes is not reliable when the human body is not an industry-standard body.
Continuing with the example of the Black body in contrast to industry-standard body, one of the most destructive forces of self-esteem of young girls and women who have the Black body type takes its toll when these females enroll in consumer education, textile, modeling, or any other classes that involve apparel making or wearing. What these females abruptly learn is that they have a body that is outside of the accepted norm. In other words, they are abnormal. To no avail, many of these females have almost starved themselves to death with an ill-fated hope of finding a “normal” body beneath the shed body mass. These frustrated, bone-thin females still do not conform to the “norm” because it is not merely mass of body flesh that distinguishes the appearance of a human body. The present invention discloses that human body physique and or structure establishes distinctions in the appearance of a human body, and ethnicity solutions-bone structure, bone placement, muscle mass propensity and distribution, and fat propensity and distribution—are primary factors that determine body structure.
Females of similar age, height, and weight can have dissimilar bone structures, bone placement and mass distribution where the females are of dissimilar human body structures or physiques. For example, a recent magazine article noted comments regarding body shakes during dancing and cheers by African-American high school cheerleaders in comparison to Caucasian cheerleaders. (Sports Illustrated, Dec. 24, 2001) Some school board members referred to the dancing and cheers of African-Americans as luridly, when in reality, the difference in appearance was substantially attributable to the selection of dances and cheers that involve shaking the hips, a body part on the Black body where bones tend to protrude and a mass is concentrated, which is not the case for the industry-standard body.
One very common problem not adequately addressed by the one industry-standard patterning system is differences in height. For example, according to traditional thought, variances in height among women of the same hip measurement is accommodated by producing a petite dress that in general is merely an industry-standard dress with shorter sleeves, shorter dress length and perhaps a shortened bodice. Industry-standard sizes do not take into consideration that the petite Black woman nevertheless has a Black body. Therefore, even industry-standard petite dresses are problematic for the petite Black woman. Industry-standard petite dresses tend to have sleeves that do not extend to the wrist of the petite Black body and dresses of inadequate length for the Black body. In brief, the industry-standard does not take into consideration that each human race or group body structured has its own, unique height range. Moreover, while industry-standard petite bodices are patterned shorter than the “normal” industry-standard bodice, when fitting the petite Black body the multiple reasons for a short bodice are not overcome by an industry-standard petite bodice that was too lengthy to begin with, and whether or not petite, does not take into consideration the chest width difference in the industry-standard and the Black body.
The industry-standard mislabels body locations in a derogatory manner. For example, the Black body defines a particular waistline location as normal, whereas, the industry-standard refers to an individual with the Black body waistline location as “high-waisted” or “off-standard”. Actually, the waistline on the Black body is not low, relatively speaking. The confusion lies in the fact that, unlike with the industry-standard body, the position of the navel and the position of the waistline do not coincide. The waistline in front of the body on the Black body is generally located 1.0 to 2.0 inches below the navel, and the waistline on the industry-standard is generally located at the navel. On the Black body, however, the chest is short in comparison to the industry-standard body. Therefore, on a short-chested body, a “normally positioned” waistline may have the appearance to some of being “high-waisted” or “off-standard”.
Retail salespersons have often directed individuals of the Black body to purchase improperly sized items because the merchant is able to provide only industry-standard sized items that fit out of proportion to the body parts of the Black human body. For example, when a glove does not completely fit over a Black human body hand, retail salespersons have directed the consumer with the Black human body hand to purchase a larger size glove than indicated by the consumer's palm size. The primary variable not considered, is the longer than industry-standard digits on the Black human body hand for that particular sized palm. In other words, the patterning system of the present invention caters to proportions and contours not recognized in the industry-standard, although the body sizing may be standard for consumers with a White body.
Industrial accidents occur on jobs where the hands of industrial workers are inadequately protected. Many industrial workers have a human body structure other than the industry-standard body, and that includes hands. The safety of the workers and liability of the employers depend on adequately protecting the workers. In the United States, most work related gloves are produced in one plant in Glovesville, N.Y., and are made according to industry-standard sizing. By contrasting example, Black body hands tend to have digits that extend longer than industry-standard size digits, when comparing equivalent sized palms. Gloves that are ill-fitted because they are too tight, too short in the digit length, restrict the maximum us and rotation of fingers, hand, and wrist of workers. This constitutes higher constitute liability for employers.
Of recent, the United States has witnessed the proliferation of mostly young men wearing extremely loose fitted, extremely long pants. This trend began in the urban areas of the United States where there are concentrations of men with a Black human body. A part of the impetus for this trend is the industry-standard apparel system. Most male pants are cut from the industry-standard pattern design wherein the waist-hip measurement ratio is approximate 1.0×: 1.10×, respectively. On the other hand, with the Black body, the waist-hip measurement ratio is approximate 1.0×: 1.20×, respectively. Given the difference in the measurement ratios, coupled with the difference in the positioning of body parts, industry-standard pants that fit the Black body waist are uncomfortable in the hips, thighs and crotch. Therefore, industry-standard pants that comfortably fit the hips, thighs, and crotch of a Black body tend to be oversized for the Black body waist.
Further regarding body parts positioning, the Black body waist is not similarly positioned as the industry-standard body. In order to position the waistband of the industry-standard pants on the Black body waist, the industry-standard must ride low in the seat. This low riding seat does not serve the Black body type because the Black body bone structure and flesh distribution does not correlate with the low riding seat resulting from the location of the industry-standard waistband. In the absence of a belt or other retention means, the integrity of the location and fit of the industry-standard pants waistband when worn on the Black body waist is compromised; thus, industry-standard pants hang from the Black body, causing the long crotch of the industry-standard pant to droop in greater excess than normal and the pants legs to be out of expected position, appearing to have excessive leg length and width.
The applicant determines a need for a patterning system that is adaptable for a Black human body. It is essential that the patterning system is capable of taking into consideration one or more ethnicity solutions. One or more Black ethnicity solutions are important in order to adequately represent a Black body in a patterning system utilized by the designers and the apparel industries. There is a growing demand for mass-produced, comfortable and attractively fitting apparel for a Black body. The patterning system of the present invention meets the stated market demand.
In brief, the noted above and other difficulties with industry-standard patterning systems have resulted in economic injury to employees and merchants, discomfort and personal-image damage to individuals with a non-industry-standard body, and deterioration of social values.
The industry-standard suffers from several problems. The fallacious notions of the appropriateness of virtually a single White industry-standard for items patterned for mass production, coupled with the substantial number of individuals with non-industry-standard body, clearly indicate it is meritorious to conclude that the market place will support more than a single patterning system and standard sizing guide. The patterning system of the present invention improves upon the relevant art by solving a problem not adequately addressed previously, that problem being patterning for a human body structure other than the industry-standard. The present invention provides a system and method of designing patterns for use by a Black human body.
3. Art
Numerous devices exist on the market to aid designers and manufacturers in creating and manufacturing well-fitted apparel items. Such devices are limited in their services. The present invention overcomes limitations in the art that do not serve the Black human body.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,939,565, a pattern fitting tool and method of custom fitting patterns, issued Feb. 24, 1976, to Roberta F. Bush, describes a fitting tool and method of custom fitting patterns utilizing a plastic pattern form. Unlike the present invention, '565 does not describe a method of mass-production for the apparel industry such that the benefactors include designing houses, manufacturers, wholesalers and retail merchants.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,894,919, a garment pattern adaptation system, issued Jan. 23, 1990, to Beate I. E. Ziegertit describes a means for modifying a garment pattern for use with knitted elastometric stretch fabrics by removing body ease and reducing length and width. Unlike the present invention, '919 does not involve the challenge of creating a patterning system for a Black body types. At '919, the intent is to describe a means of working with stretch fabrics that maintains the proportions of the industry-standard pattern.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,615,318, a method and apparatus for visualizing assembled sewing patterns, issued Mar. 25, 1997, to Susumu, Matsuura appears to disclose a computerized method and apparatus for visualizing assembled sewing patterns which allow a user to observe the appearance and wearing condition of clothes by converting a two-dimensional pattern into a three-dimensional pattern. The three-dimensional coordinate values that indicate the shape formed by assembling the sewing pattern pieces are calculated and the three-dimensional coordinate values and the main dimensions are inputted. Unlike the present invention, the disclosure of '318 is limited to converting existing two-dimensional data into three-dimensional data and discloses neither novel techniques for creating three-dimensional data nor novel techniques for creating two-dimensional data for a Black human body since a sizing standard did not exist at the time of invention.
Numerous dress forms are known. U.S. Pat. No. 3,734,362, dressmaking forms, issued May 22, 1973, to Eric Richard Arthur describes a patterning system consisting of a plurality of sections that are adjustable. The overall circumferential size of the sections can be increased or decreased by setting dials for each part of the form. U.S. Pat. No. D444,818 S, a dress form, issued Jul. 10, 2001, to Kenneth Henry Fullalove, is a adjustable dress form. In both '362 and '818, the adjustments are restricted to industry-standard body proportions. Neither '362 nor '818 accommodate Black ethnicity solutions.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,014,364, a garment crotch structure and method, issued May 14, 1991, to Donna R. Orr discloses a garment with the feature of providing an opening which may be used to perform bodily functions without removing the garment. Unlike the present invention, while the garment is adjustable, it is not disclosed to be adjustable to the Black body.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,907,107, a dress form method and means, issued Sep. 23, 1975, to Flora M. Vercollone; U.S. Pat. No. 3,525,458, a dress form, issued Aug. 25, 1970, to Robert S. Mason et. al; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,566,867, a customizable garment form system, issued Oct. 22, 1996, to Jill Goray, consistently disclose patterning form kits which can be assembled and customized. Such disclosures are limited in function to service individual users. The market desires a product that serves groups of individuals of similar body structure beyond the industry-standard body.
U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/685,311, a body profile coding method and apparatus used for assisting user to select wearing apparel more appropriate to users body, issued Jan. 10, 2002 to Peter Ar-Fu Lam discloses a device that assists user with choosing more accurate sizes based on user's height and some algorithms. '311 assumes the user has a human body structure or physique same or similar to the industry standard. '311 is limited to obtaining all key ethnicity solutions because it only captures profile data.
The art identified hereinabove does not permit for mass-produced, well-fitted apparel and other items for individuals with a Black body because virtually no product of the art takes into account Black ethnicity solutions at a level that results in mass-produced items tailored to a non-industry-standard body.
In brief, all known efforts are limited because:                (a) Industry-standard patterning systems do not accommodate the critical differences in the industry-standard body the Black body types.        (b) Patterning systems that provide for customized tailoring for individuals with a non-industry-standard body do not serve the needs of the apparel industry.        (c) Currently available adjustable forms and molds that allow for enlargements in body parts do not adequately accommodate the Black body.        (d) Industry-standard sizing systems may be a significant source of lost revenue because industry-standard sized items do not adequately cater to human body structures other than the industry-standard.        (e) Industry-standard sizing systems have contributed to the proliferation of young men wearing extremely loose fitting, excessively long pants, because of an awareness of the necessity of comfort.        (f) Industry-standard sizing systems have contributed to the low self-esteem of many young girls and women who have become frustrated in their efforts to achieve an industry-standard body type.        (g) Industry-standard apparel items represent a source of worker's compensation claims and lost employer profits.        
The noted above and other difficulties with industry-standard patterning systems have resulted in economic injury to employers and merchants, discomfort and personal-image damage to individuals with a non-industry-standard body, and deterioration of social values.
The industry-standard suffers from several problems. The fallacious notions of the appropriateness of virtually a single industry-standard, based on only White volunteer subjects, for items patterned for mass production, coupled with the substantial number of Black individuals with a non-industry-standard body, clearly indicate it is meritorious to conclude that the marketplace is beyond ready support more than a single patterning system. The patterning system of the present invention improves upon the relevant art by solving a problem not adequately addressed previously, that problem being patterning for a Black human body structure other than the industry-standard. The present invention provides a system and method of designing patterns for use by the Black body. None of the known art approaches the apparatus content and function of the present invention.